Balrog Mob
The Balrog Mob was a semi-habituated group which lived at the borders of the monitored area. They had been around since 1994 but started to be followed and habituated in mid 2001. The dominant male was called Balrog, whom the group was named after, was thought to be 4-6 years old. Luella was the the dominant female by his side but she died of disease. Then five Vivian female settled into the group, Velvet establisted dominance for the next few years till her death. Her daughters and nieces took dominance after her. Balrog retained his dominance till early 2005 when he died, suspected of old age. After most of the adult males had left, Stinker, long-term rover and former dominant male of the Vivian, joined the group after he left the Gattaca and took dominance for 5 days. He was ousted by four wild males led by Chino who established himself as the dominant male. Disease hit the group in 2006 killed the dominant male and the dominant female that followed till finally dominance fell upon Mussolini. A group of Vivian males joined, all the males rejoined the Vivian during a group encounter except the dominant male Boba. The group's numbers never grew large due to the many failed breed attempts and lost of litters in the Balrog amoug th emany dominance females. Disease and predation reduced the Balrog's size even more and even the immagration of two females could not prevent the group's diminish. The fell to just two members, the Young Ones female Tequila disappeared along with a juvenile male named Woody. Balrog was lost after an exsistence for 13 years in the Kalahari Meerkat Project. Dominant Pair At the time the group was first followed Luella and Balrog were the first dominant couple. After Luella's death, Mandella took over but she was run over by a car. Then five evicted Vivian females joined the group, Velvet became the next dominant female. Nine month old Babbelas became the youngest dominant female in the history of the KMP. Balrog soon died and natal male Mbabane took dominance. However he soon left the mob, Stinker then became dominant male for five days until he was ousted by four wild male. One of the wild males Chino established dominance but after a few months both he and Babbelas died of tuberculosis. Priscilla then took female dominance and Vivian immigrant male Boba took male dominance. After Priscilla's death, Mussolini finally took dominance. After Boba's death there were no other dominant males, when Mussolini died of tuberculosis, a wild female named Wildkat took dominance. She was the last dominant female, she disappeared soon after. A month later Woodey strangely took dominance even though he was only 8 months old. Sadly the last female in the group died and Woody disappeared. All Known Members A list of meerkat born or joined the Balrog. Luella (VBF003) Balrog (VBM004) Snert (VBM005) Baguira (VBM006) Pangolin (VBM007) Kenny (VBM009) Janna (VBM010) Mickowas (VBM011) Mandella (VBF013) Shongolongo (VBM015) Papa-wheelies (VBM017) Wallace (VBM018) Potter (VBM019) Livvy (VBM022) Chuity (VBM024) Sobantu (VBM025) Kali (VBM026) Jacaranda (VBF027) Mbabane (VBM028) Mojadji (VBM029) Velvet (VVF050) Viv'e (VVF051) Uacari (VVF053) Mangabey (VVF057) Sifaka (VVF059) Cinders (VBF030) Gretel (VBF033) Hansel (VBM032) Rapunzel (VBF031) Gadafi (VBF037) Mussolini (VBF038) Castro (VBM036) Babbelas (VBF039) VBF040 VBM041 Babbalina (VBF042) Priscilla (VBF043) W.Ford Doolittle (VBM044) Irish (VBM045) Bradley (VBP046) Numpty (VBM047) Graham (VBP048) Audrey (VBF049) Basta (VBM050) VBP051 Dirty Sanchez (VBM052) VBP053 VBP054 VBP055 Stinker (VYM005) Chino (VBM056) Lause (VBM057) Bengal (VBM058) VBM059 Boba (VVM080) Kubu (VVM076) Hannibal (VVM071) Daffyd (VVM109) Emily Howard (VVM111) Curley Fuzz (VVM113) Acer (VBM060) Willow (VBF061) Afrika Bambarta (VBM062) Widow Twanky (VBM063) VBP064 VBP065 Champ (VBM066) Woody (VBP067) Owlet (VBF068) Twilight (VBF069) VBP070 VBP072 VBP073 VBP074 VBP075 Wildkat (VBF076) Tequila (VYF115) Rivals The Balrog mob's territory was on the eastern part of the research area bordering the Vivian, and Whiskers. Their main rivals were Vivian, who consistently raided their breeding burrows and territory. The Gattaca had formed right on Balrog territory, they managed to keep their new land. The Asphodel also formed on Balrog territory, but unlike Gattaca they were chased away by the much bigger mob. The Commandos had moved in near the Balrog and became the new rivals for a few years till the Balrog moved away. Their next rivals became the Hoax. However the Balrog followed the Gattaca and Vivian farther and father away from most of the monitored groups. Category:WikiKat featured articles Category:Meerkat Mobs Category:Lost Mobs